1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing systems in which transposition is made from the language character form in which verbal material is presented to the reproduction of the material as printed text. The invention is particularly useful in transposing from one language form to another in those languages in which a number of complex printed characters all correspond to a single selected spoken sound or which there are a large number of various characters required for communications. Also, the invention can be used for providing a phonetic input base in a language and deriving an output in the form of sentences in proper gramatical structure in that same language. The invention also finds utility in translating from one language to another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In existing printing systems that have been utilized to print text material in a language format altered from that in which the material is presented, a number of different approaches have been used. Some of these systems are reasonably successful for translating between languages and language forms which have relatively few simple corresponding characters, such as in translating between European languages, as from English to Greek or German to Spanish. These systems have been quite deficient, however, in translating between Western languages and Oriental or Arabian languages. Of particular significance in this regard are the defiencies of prior art systems in providing a means for translating material into idiomatic Japanese. While two of the language forms of the Japanese language, Katakana and Hiragana each contain a relatively few number of characters (71 in each language form), and so are amenable to adaptation to the keys of a conventional English language typewriter, Japanese text material written only in Katakana or only in Hiragana or in a combination of both fails to express the intricacies of meaning which the Japanese people impart to the spoken sounds by voice inflexion, pronunciation, accent and tone. The result is a translation into written Japanese which is very rudimentary, unsophisticated and bland to those familiar with the Japanese language. To analogize, a similar effect would result if one were to attempt to express descriptive or noteworthy material in the English language using words of no more than five letters.
To express concepts and ideas in meaningful terms in the Japanese language in written form, one must resort to the use of more eloquent language forms of the Japanese tongue, such as Yamota Gana and Kanji, particularly the latter. Thus, in conventional practice in Japan, written matter of any reasonable degree of sophistication typically employs a combination of Katakana, Hiragana, Romanji (Roman or English) and Kanji characters. Kanji is not at all adaptable to conventional keyboard typing or printing systems, however. To be even minimally conversant in Kanji, approximately 1,850 Kanji characters are required. Normal business conversation typically employs any of 4,000 different Kanji characters. Specialized usage of the Kanji language form can involve anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 character figures.
Various systems have been suggested to encode and decode complex language character forms, such as Kanji, so that the complex characters in these language forms could be reproduced in printed text after processing by a digital processing device. One such system involved the assignment of coded digits, such as letters or numerals from a conventional typewriter keyboard to define the gross form of each complex character on the basis of the arrangement of sections in the character, and to define the shapes of elements in each section, then to define the relative juxtaposition, crossover, enclosure and size differentiation of elements within each section. Construction of the code in such an arrangement is so arduous and involves such a great possibility or error, and the digitization of the parameters has been so incomplete, however, as to render such systems of minimal practical value.
Another encoding arrangement involves a keyboard with 2,100 keys with separate Kanji characters on each of the keys. However, as previously noted this does not allow the user to conduct even basic Japanese business conversation. Moreover, the manipulation of 2,100 keys is extremely time consuming and fatiguing to the keyboard operator.
Another system which has been proposed employs a rectilinear matrix of grouped Kanji characters. The matrix involves first choosing a vertical column containing a multiplicity of different Kanji characters, choosing a horizontal row likewise containing a multiplicity of Kanji characters and intersecting the chosen column. At the intersection one chooses one of several Kanji characters, for example one of eight. An LED stylus or switching arrangment is typically employed to define the final matrix position chosen and to generate a representative electrical signal associated with that particular character position. Different laminar masks or template overlays may be employed in association with such systems to expand their capacity. However, this arrangement suffers from the same deficiencies of imposing a fatiguing strain on the operator, of being unduly arduous and time consuming and of giving rise to frequent errors.
Another prior art translating arrangement involves a keyboard which utilizes one of the simple Japanese language forms the characters of which find correspondence in a plurality of characters of a more complex language form, such as Kanji. Depression of an appropriate keyboard key labelled according to the simple language form displays on a cathode ray tube all characters having the same sound, as well as an eight digit code associated with each displayed Kanji character. The keyboard operator must first depress the appropriate key of the console and then mentally select the appropriate one of the many Kanji characters displayed on the CRT having the same sound, and copy down the eight digit code appearing therewith. As with the other prior art arrangements discussed heretofore, this type of system is extremely slow and cumbersome. Also, because of the movement of attention from the keyboard to the display to the code copy sheet to the text, this arrangement is very incohesive and lends itself to the preparation of a text which is somewhat disjointed in its final form.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide an apparatus for assembling material for a printed text which maintains a display of the text material as it is developed and which concurrently displays character forms from which further text characters may be sequentially selected.